Resumen de Why do students not check their solutions to mathematical problems? A field-based hypothesis on epistemological status
Igor Kontorovich
This study embarks on the question in the title with the construct of epistemological status, which pertains to the solver’s satisfaction with the way and the degree to which their solution had fulfilled their intellectual and psychological needs in a particular problem situation. The construct is used to hypothesize that a solver’s decision to check the solution and the act of checking itself may be shaped by the epistemological status of a developed solution. Driven by the abduction methodology, this hypothesis is supported by two empirical illustrations. The first one comes from the final exam in a large first-year course for non-mathematics majors, where many students accompanied their solutions of a low epistemological status by written checks of final answers as a way to elevate it. No such checks were found in solutions with high epistemological status. The second illustration revisits some previously reported findings to propose that an application of conventional problem-solving methods may not be sufficient for students to endow their solutions with high epistemological status.
